The invention relates to a folding step for track-bound vehicles, especially railroad cars.
The problem arises, in the case of vehicles travelling on an elevated roadway, of making it possible for passengers to climb out over the front sides of the vehicle in the event of an emergency stop, either onto the roadway as a gangway or at least to transfer to a vehicle opening for assistance purposes. It is not possible for the folding steps of the type mentioned at the outset known in the case of railroad vehicles from DE-PS 16 05 042 or DE-PS 33 01 746, for example, to satisfy these two functions, because they are limited to normal getting on and getting off and are consequently designed only for steps for normal folding out or in (or swinging in or out) obliquely to the longitudinal median plan of the vehicle. To the extent that an emergency exiting is proposed for the front side of a vehicle on rails, it is limited according to EP 0 142 851 to a special design of a front-end vehicle door and its used as a foldable stair ramp.
The object of the invention is therefore that of creating a folding step of the type mentioned at the outset for emergency exiting by means of front-side vehicle exits closed by simple doors, which make it possible to either leave the vehicle by the front side, if desired, or by transfer to another opening vehicle or by climbing down to a passable roadway.